Wednesday, April 21, 2010

I’d never heard of this event, but after doing a little research, I really wish it were held earlier in the year so I could attend. Add one to my “Things to do in my lifetime” list, right behind SxSW and TED.

Monday, April 19, 2010

The Swiss love to recycle. Paper. Plastic. Organic gunk for compost. You don’t just throw stuff away here. You sort it and put it in the correct container.

But when our family visits, we just give up.

Because under our sink, they see a container for regular trash and a container for compost. And next to the stove, they see a container for paper and a container for plastic and a container for glass.

And they quickly deduce that we are pigs and have five randomly placed garbage cans around the kitchen, and they throw stuff wherever it’s convenient. So we simplify and ask them to put everything in the trash under the sink, no matter what it is.

If you are an environmental activist looking for something to protest, come stand outside our apartment when we have loved ones in town.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

This Iceland volcano thing is pretty interesting - and I'm not just talking pronunciation. The skies around Geneva look perfectly clear, although it's said people with asthma will be able to tell a difference.

A co-worker of mine was supposed to be in England for her brother's 40th birthday, and still hasn't been able to travel.

Friends of ours are supposed to travel to the States for a brother's wedding next week, and they're wondering if they'll make it.

We had about three families attend our church meetings today who would have otherwise flown out a couple days ago.

And my in-laws have tickets to return to the States this Tuesday, and are thinking it might not be until Saturday. It wouldn't be a big deal, but they've got medication that runs out by the week's end. Makes me wonder how many other people are stranded and need access to their pills.

We're scheduled to move to Dallas on May 1st - thirteen days from today. Things should should be clear by then. Unless the bigger one erupts, too.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Last week, my wife gave birth to a baby girl – our fourth child, but our first in Switzerland.

Based on our experience, giving birth in Switzerland was very similar to having a child in the US, but with a French soundtrack. (My wife was pretty amazing with her language skills. If I were in labor, I’d have a hard time being fluent in English, let alone a foreign language.)Where things really differed from our US experience was in the recovery room. In the US, we’ve always had private rooms. Here, my wife shared a room with two other new mothers. Visiting hours seemed more like a cocktail party. My wife kept referring to it as Baby Camp.

The other two women at Baby Camp were European, which mean they liked their room crazy warm. They were wrapping their kids in blankets in Sahara-like conditions, and my wife was letting our hang out in a onesie. The nurses couldn’t believe that my wife would give a pacifier to our newborn. Culturally, everyone thought everyone else was a nut.

In the States, new moms are usually given two days max to recover. Here, the doctors wanted my perfectly healthy wife and child to stay for five. She started campaigning to be released and was let go on Day 3.

In Switzerland, they weren’t too concerned with whether or not we had a car seat for the baby. In the States, they wanted to see the kid strapped and buckled in before you rode off.

Being born in Switzerland doesn’t make my daughter a dual citizen. I think she has to reside in the country for nine years continuously to be eligible. So it’ll just be a novelty to have “Geneva, Switzerland” on her birth certificate.

Also, our doctor looked just like Jacob from Lost. When he left to “consult with colleagues,” it was pretty easy to image that conversation taking place inside a giant stone foot.